Dear friends, family, fellow travelers,
I woke up yesterday and realized I owed all of you a newsletter. Where did the past month go? I got some work done on the Ida B. Wells manuscript (not as much as I hoped to but more words than I had before ... and I'm practicing being okay with that, particularly since we're all living in shadowy, attenuated pademic times). We took our long Labor Day weekend as a long weekend and did nothing in particular apart from knitting and sleeping and a bit of housekeeping. The past two weeks I worked long (nine hour) days for work, mornings at home and afternoons on site, so that during my next two weeks -- the Team A quarantine period -- I'll have the flexibility to continue work on the Wells project. I'm really looking forward to just being home for sixteen days. Moving forward into the fall/winter this should be our rhythm unless cases climb again and the MHS closes completely to keep us all safer at home.
Image: Me, on my way to work, in a new "gaiter" style face mask (tube scarf made of light knit cloth). These stay on easier under my glasses and produce less fog!
Some things from the past month, in no particular order...
I woke up yesterday and realized I owed all of you a newsletter. Where did the past month go? I got some work done on the Ida B. Wells manuscript (not as much as I hoped to but more words than I had before ... and I'm practicing being okay with that, particularly since we're all living in shadowy, attenuated pademic times). We took our long Labor Day weekend as a long weekend and did nothing in particular apart from knitting and sleeping and a bit of housekeeping. The past two weeks I worked long (nine hour) days for work, mornings at home and afternoons on site, so that during my next two weeks -- the Team A quarantine period -- I'll have the flexibility to continue work on the Wells project. I'm really looking forward to just being home for sixteen days. Moving forward into the fall/winter this should be our rhythm unless cases climb again and the MHS closes completely to keep us all safer at home.
Image: Me, on my way to work, in a new "gaiter" style face mask (tube scarf made of light knit cloth). These stay on easier under my glasses and produce less fog!
Some things from the past month, in no particular order...
- On September 1st we launched a new fundraising campaign for the Archival Workers Emergency Fund, Coffee for Colleagues (Tea on Me), which aims to capture $5 or $10 recurring monthly donations so that the fund can become a sustainable source of mutual aid and community solidarity into the future. We're currently at $865 raised toward our goal of $1,000 for September -- a really lovely sign of coming together in support of our precarious colleagues.
- I read Better Than People by Roan Parrish, a contemporary m/m romance about a children's book illustrator who has broken his leg and a dog walker with social anxiety whom he hires to care for his dogs while he can't walk them. It's low drama and there are snickerdoodles and a protective brother and a kickass grandma. Highly recommend.
- I'm recording Five Children and It by E. Nesbit for a young friend and it's been fun to re-read (though I've done some on-the-fly revising out of gratuitous racism). The Psammead definitely stands the test of time.
- My treat for working on the Wells manuscript at the end of August was ordering yarn from Ravenswood Fibre Co. and our skeins arrived this week! They are so luscious and I can't wait to work with them (photo below).
- One of our beloved city Councilors-at-Large, Michelle Wu, has announced her bid to become Boston's next mayor (the election will be next year). Amidst all the exhaustion and stress and terrible of this year in politics, it's nice to have a local politcal campaign that we can get behind. Michelle has been an advocate for racial justice, transit justice, housing justice, environmental justice, and greater equity and affordability in the city for the past decade. We would be lucky to have her as mayor & have signed on as early supporters.
Image: Yarn from Ravenswood Fibre Co. (Left to Right: Friday Night Fire Pit, She Sells Sea Shells, Charming Forest).
Some things I've been reading and thinking about:
- "Trump's Vision for American History Education is a Nightmare" by L.D. Burnett @ Salon
- "what a strike is for" by Anne Helen Petersen @ Culture Study
- "It Took a Divorce to Make my Marriage Equal" by Lyz Lenz @ Glamour (file under: "straight couples are not okay!!!")
- "Momentum Builds for Basic Income as Pandemic Drags On" by Caitlin Dewey @ Pew Stateline
- "QAnon Didn't Just Spring Forth from the Void - It's the Latest from a Familiar Movement" by Adam Willems @ Religion Dispatches
- Shere Hite's obituary @ The Guardian
- "The Consequences of Your Actions" by Design Mom:
"Another consequence of your actions? I have a deep desire to withhold my community and my creations from you.
Instagram has data that could tell me exactly which of you support Trump. I wish they would give me that data. I would block every single one of you.
My Instagram followers request access to my life daily. You’re voting for Trump and you want to know the source for my daughter’s dress? My answer is: No. You want to know the paint color we chose for the attic renovation? No. You want to participate in a parenting discussion on Design Mom? No.
I want to shun you from my community.
If gatherings were safely happening, I want you to be shunned from all events hosted by decent people. No wedding invitations. No conference tickets. No backyard barbecues.
I want decent event hosts to send you a card, explaining you are not invited because you are a Trump supporter."
Image: Pinpack button reading "Courage Over Cynicism" from the Warren campaign. Pictured on my messenger bag.
Some things I'm looking forward to:
- This free virtual panel conversation: "Making and Talking Money: LAM Salary Transparency" hosted by the Archival Workers Emergency Fund Organizing Committee on Monday 9/21 @ 4pm ET (join us!)
- This free virtual conference: “Shall Not Be Denied”: The 15th and 19th Amendments at the Sesquicentennial and Centennial of their Ratifications hosted by the Massachusetts Historical Society, October 12-16 (join us!)
- The Duke Who Didn't by Courtney Milan has a release date of September 22! (And of course I pre-ordered it.)
- Autumn is here so it's hot chocolate with marshmallows season!
- Also flannel sheets.
- And apple cider donuts.
Image: Christopher napping in the morning sun on one of his favorite windowsills.
We had to say goodbye this week to Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg whose career of many decades both before and on the Court made the world a safer, more equitable place. It's a hard time to pick up and carry on, but gosh I am so grateful to have shared the planet with her for my first 39 years of the journey. Let's do her proud and keep on supporting one another in the struggle ahead. I'll leave all of you with the reminder I sent out on Twitter earlier today:
If you have someone in your life who is either elated by the SCOTUS news or minimizing the harm another Trump SCOTUS pick could do the lives of marginalized people you are allowed to stop giving them access to you.
You don't owe them friendship.
You don't owe them time.
You don't owe them energy.
You don't owe them contact details.
You don't owe them status updates.
You don't owe them attempts to reach across the aisle.
You don't owe them attempts to win their empathy.
We will need (right now we need) our energy to care for one another in the days ahead. We will need (right now we need) our love and solidarity to build a more just and sustainable future that is not organized around white supremacist hatred and bullying, abusive power.
You don't owe them friendship.
You don't owe them time.
You don't owe them energy.
You don't owe them contact details.
You don't owe them status updates.
You don't owe them attempts to reach across the aisle.
You don't owe them attempts to win their empathy.
We will need (right now we need) our energy to care for one another in the days ahead. We will need (right now we need) our love and solidarity to build a more just and sustainable future that is not organized around white supremacist hatred and bullying, abusive power.
In gratitude for everyone in struggle,
Anna